



m 






A bit of Uerse 



U^XiXs^ tj^.^^ Til.. .. l^'ifh^Jk 



ti 



^-fi -21920 I 



C1A558744 



io ^V\<5 









^ PREFACE 



More and more people are realizing the tremendous power of 
lliought. The question naturally arises, "What kind of thought 
are we entertaining, or what are the things we desire?" And 
by "desire" is not meant passing fancies, but real wishes, real 
longing", of the heart. Latent energies call for expression. If 
the wish is genuine it will come to you again and again, at]^ 
this is the way I believe that you may know that it is reg^ 
All my life I have liked to write verse, but it was not until 
the summer of 1913 that the following verses, among others, 
began to come to me, seemingly without effort and at intervals 
extending over the next two years. After that all thought of 
poetry was crowded out by prose writing and I have not felt 
the impulse to write verse since with the exception of "Among 
Soldiers' Graves" and "World Peace," the latter written early in 
1916 and under the title of "The Message" appeared in one of 
our local newspapers at that time. 

EDITH JOSEPHINE MYERS LENICHECK. 
Copyright, Nov., 1919. Milwaukee, Wis. 



A SKETCH 

A purple twilight gathering low 

Yields but the flicker of an afterglow 

That knew a red-orb'd sun ; 

And loath to go, September's breeze 

Had strayed among the tops of trees 

And kiss't the waving corn. 

No hint of change — 

Not whispered even — 

Comes sighing over meadow-land 

Across the fields where Summer sits 

No sign is given — 

And yet as sure 

That purple haze 

Bears witness to the first of Autumn days. 



GENESIS 



That first new day 

Of long ago. 

Out of the distant past it beams 

In vague significance of dreams 

So dim it's way. 

And yet beloved I know I knew you when 

The sun was young; 

Before the stars had found a place 

And Earth hung stark, inert in space 

As from among 

Vast hosts of new created beings 

The life-wave touched us then. 

Ancient of days 

And day without end. 

Glimps'd from Eternity 

Almost a memory 

That first new day! 

And like a rainbow tried and true, 

A sacred tryst it keeps for me, beloved 

And you. 



TO UNDERSTAND 

1 do not know the secrets of the sea 

Nor of the tide 

But when it Hfts itself in waves of seeming pride 

Of Hfe— 

Some elemental thing awakens in me 

And I am one with it and Life essentially. 

I do not know the reason why the cactus blows 

Beneath a tropic sun. 

Nor why hid deep in northern snows 

The crocus knows 

When winter's done. 

I can but feel 

Alive to centers from which spring 

The quickened life and love in answering. 

I know not much the meaning of the stars. 

Nor aught their mystery 

Portends — 

I only know I'm something close in sympathy 

Ah, and 'tis enough, 

'Tis unity. 



SENTIENT 



Thou one lone star 

Glimmering afar. 

Sentinel through night. 

Dos't thou ever cease thy watchfulness by day 

Because less bright? 

The splendor of the sun, 

The blandishments of day, 

Make thy pale light seem far away. 

And yet the influence stays ! 

I can't but think of yonder lone pine tree, 

So great the comparison twixl it and thee 

So high and still 

Its solitary virgils keep 

When all the v/orld is wrapped in sleep. 



TAKE THOU MY HAND 

Take thou my hand — 

The road is rough and steep. 
A far way to understand 

So tired thy feet. 

Full many a league thy journey lies along the upward grade- 
Knowest thou the perils of yonder wind swept hill? 

How cans't thou struggle on all unafraid? 

Thy strength untested yet, 
Untried thy will. 

Methinks the odds against thee great my friend. 

Take thou my hand. 

Oh Neophyte, my eyes have pierced the darkness into light- 

I've a hand that serves 
With courage bound to honor right. 

Stout heart, strong nerves. 
Yet I had died but for the grace to apprehend 
The saving words, "Take thou my hand." 

A little while ago the self same path 1 trod 

That thou dost travel now, 

Oh, Other Child of God. 



A TALISMAN 

Suppose 

That a rose 

She had worn in her hair 

Had dropped from its place at your feet on the stair. 

Could it stay the heart's longing 

For something belonging 

As potentially sweet and more permanently fair? 

Cool and virginal white 

Would it allay the fire 

That is scorching your heart 

With the breath of desire? 

Ah, what fancies invest the fair seeming of symbols 

Like influence of incense 

Illusive as air — 

Yet for piquant nearness 

They seem to lend clearness 

Like the touch of the rose she had worn in her hair- 



A PRAYER 

Oh, Power, for which have monarchs striven, 
Glimps'd of the majesty of heaven. 
Strength of thy strength 
Make Thou, of me 
A mediator Lord 
Twixt Thine and Thee. 

Teach me to live, 

Teach me to give 

Of aught I have or am. 

And if the joy of giving gifts be mine. 

Teach me in service Lord 

For Thee to Thine. 

Oh, Thou Adored, 

V/ho's giving of Thyself hath given Thine All, 

Forgive me of the debt of talent mean 

And resource small 

My present task 

So poor — 

And still I ask 

This greatest boon, oh Lord, 

And it is this — 

Teach me to love, 

Because above 

All else this seems to be 

The golden cord from Thou for Thine and me, 

And if, oh Lord, Thou bearest on Thine Heart 

Some plan, some work. 

Oh hope Devine — 

Teach me to recognize 

That part 'tis mine. 



LIGHT 

Come on, oh Day 

The hour is far advanced. 

The waning moon has failed her Hght, 

Among the fading stars 

She sinks from sight. 

Along the dim horizon grey 

The first faint streaks 

Of dawn 

Break into a rosette flush 

Above the mountain peaks. 

Come Day, come on. 

And now the chirriping of birds 

The gladsome stir among the flocks and herds, 

God's creatures all — 

They wake to rise and greet the sun 

And day's begun. 



TEMPTATION 

We came to where the water's bank 
Sloped down to meet the sand. 

And where the merry murmering waves 
Made music on the strand. 

And I, with gladness of it all 
Did joy in love-lit land. 

Here Life walks — 

Naked is she. 
Paused now, she flings far her robes 
Care worn ; 
To purge herself 

Within the sea. 



And now — 

From out the foamy surf 
She lifts a beck'ning hand, 
She throws a kiss to me ! 

Well might the ruse be Dan Cupid's guile 

So adroit is he — 
So vulnerable is she — 

And woe is me ! 

THOU ART KIND 

That thou art kind 

I see this in thy face, 

The gift of tact and tender grace. 

I read it in thy smile. 

The little lines about the eyes, 

The characteristic pucker of glad surprise 

Speak much of laughter through the years. 

And sometimes tears. 

That thou art kind 

I know to clasp thine hand 

The royal grasp; the ready wish to understand. 

To feel, to know 

Another's joy or woe 

To deeply live 

And still to give 

Full measure of this gentle art, 

The simple human touch that stirs the heart. 

That thou art kind 

What mere need one say? 

No clearer light shines brighter to the perfect day. 

No surer guide leads higher along the upward trend 

Than this, that thou art kind, my friend. 



THERE IS NO DEATH 

There is no death. 

The revelation came one day 

To a heart accustomed to meditation's way. 

Yea, a voice spoke, "See, I show a wonder 

That Hmitations of a waiting world 

Be forever swept asunder." 

Oh seeming law of space 

That separates us from a dear remembered face — 
We question yet again that Wisdom said, 
"There are no dead." 

Yet, when in autumn fields stretch brown and seer 

We do not say that summer's gone and will not reappear — 

Ye know the law ; the same that brings the flowers back 

to earth 
Will bring to thee thy friends again and the new birth. 
And more, if we could but pierce the veil between 
That separates our world and theirs. 
It would be seen 
How frail the gauzy web — 

So frail — that thoughts would voices be instead 
And prove indeed, "There are no dead." 

INCOGNITO 

She seemed so sure. 

So certain of herself and of her world 

Secure ; 

Cloaked by convention ; schooled in the art 

Of speech and act 

She played her part 

Serene — 

And seemed to be 

As one who's right were undisputed, free. 



No trembler's touch. 

No blunderer's hand 

Disturbed the even current of the things she planned 

And carried out — 

Such was her skill 

Action from experience 

Born of practice 

And of will 

But mark you well 

She knew above her head a sword was hung. 

And though so bold 

She knew her mission false, 

Her methods sold 

As was herself — 

She knew not what a single hour might prove 

In balance swung 

Against one idle word, 

One luckless move. 



WORLD PEACE 

Wing swift thy flight 

Oh carrier bird. 

Soon comes the night. 

Along the rock bound coast no sound is heard 

Except the lashing of the waves. 

The sea. 

In tempest toss't 

Possesse me 

As with a sudden fear that thou art lost. 

Thou tender Thing, 

What is thy destiny. 

And dos't thou bring 

A message for a war-torn world? 

Tell me. 

Ah Love, that knows no thought but Love. 

I fear for thee. 

I fear lest with so much at stake 

An evil thing has followed in thy wake 

To kill thee for thy service sake 



THE RiOT OF THE LEAVES 

Whirling, swirling autumn leaves, 
Brown and gold. 
Caught up on a rising gale 
Swept along o'er hill and dale. 
Hangs thereon an autumn tale. 

On and on, and up and over 
What had once been beds of clover. 
Past the wheat fields on they fiy. 
Over fields of corn and rye- 
Scare crows grin as they whisk by. 

Fleet and fleeter, on they scurried. 

Some in circles, others hurried. 

Jostled, jumbled, 

Toss't and tumbled. 

In their journey toward the sky. 

Through the hedges, over, under. 

What a riot — 

Do you wonder? 

If you really have a care 

I've a secret which I'll share. 

You see. 

The mischief started mids'l a heap of leaves 

Down among some barley sheaves 

In which a score or more of tiny Elves 

Had crept among'st to rest themselves. 

And they (though aided by the breeze) 

Were planning just such pranks as these. 



ONE LILY 

Fair Lily on a broken stem 

Drooping so, 

Swaying low, 

Mud stained ; 

You, the sport of windy weather 

Beaten, baffled, tos'ed whether 

The path winds on and on forever. 

What matters that your petaled cup curves white Uke milk 
From out a throat with tender leaves wrapped soft like silk? 
What profit now? None, save, perhaps, the power to complicate 
Thy fate. 

Puzzled, troubled, sore-afraid. 
So lonely in the forest glade. 
Mute through all the silent hours. 
Scorned by all the other flowers. 
Weary, watching, wanting breath 
Waiting death. 

Fair Lily on a broken stem 

Drooping so. 

Swaying low. 

Bowed to earth ; 

None knew the burden of your days 

Ncne sought to understand the riddle of your ways 

At once a problem ; strange, complex 

A thing for seers to ponder o'er perplexed. 

And still, 1 mind me yet the eager gaze adown the long straight 

road — 
Too late? Perhaps, but who can say? 
Strange are the mysteries at the close of day. 
For Lo, from out the shadow came a breath sweet, faint upon 

the evening air — 
The aspiration of a hope upborne in prayer. 



GOODBY EARTH. 

Gooclby, Earth. 

I pause anon, above the fading scene 

My senses quickens, thoughts come fast, 

And out the mazes of the past 

There comes review ; 

Dimly at first as seen through tears 

The mists of memory Hft from about the years. 

Goodby, Earth. 

One moment yet, I lean my heart against the pulse of time. 

Upon the tread of forces new and old 

I feel the meaning of the song that's sung, the tale that's loid. 

And music that is still — 

And strain my ears to hear, my eyes to see 

The intercesant link twixt thou and me. 

Goodby Earth 

I scarce can see thy face, 

But yet, oh Earth, paint thou the sky once more 

The hue of yesterday and the day before 

And other days — 

Illum'd now the color tones repeat 

Like to a sudden afterglow of Indian summer heat. 

Good, Earth. 

Pale grows the sky. 

Thy flow of crimson light dips dov»'n to twilight mist. 

'Twas ever thus with thee, oh Earth, that joy and sadness kiss't 

The garland cup ; the viper's sting. 

The call of love ; world's bartering. 

The heat of hatred ; passion's breath. 

Then thee, oh Death. 

Goodby, Earth. 

Goodnight, well said. 

The little twinkling stars spell sweet release 

And I? 

My heart is free. 

No cankering care persists with me 

World-born ambition, clay-bound desire. 

Relax thy hold, stay thy guile, 

I needs must dwell apart and grow the while. 



AMONG SOLDIERS' GRAVES. 

And now we come to the uncertain light of the late afternoon 

And sunset waves 

Shifting aslant above the decorated graves. 

To night in June. 

With here and there the flutter of a flag. 

As 'neath the trees, low boughed 

The shadows eche, a path 

Fitful and strange, 

And branches swung 

As yonder cedars overhung 

A crescent moon. 

Peace to the Dead. 

Oh sons, the waitmg years will keep 

Thy record safe — 

For duty done 

And honors won 

For cheated youth 

And death too soon — 

Gone is thy strength 
And thy measured length 
Lies deep — 
But the Nations' prize 
Thy supreme sacrifice 



BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME DEAR 

Because you love me dear 

For me the world is bright 

It matters not that without 'tis drear 
If all within be right. 

Our souls communing hour by hour 

Makes introspection sweet, 
IVly heart enfolded like a flower 

In confidence complete. 
And if some stress of circumstance 

O'er cloud my perfect day 
The inner happiness would recompense 

And cheer me dear alway. 

Because you love me dear 

The quest of else seems vain, 

And were I a conqueror of worlds 
'Twould seem but sordid gains 

Unless 

These worlds, including you, 
Reward me for my pains. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




H 



021 929 745 2 ^ 



